Another look at the public high school state champs

Thursday

Mar 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMMar 26, 2009 at 3:51 PM

PREP NOTEBOOK

Mike Bailey, staff writer

Another championship weekend has come and gone in Troy and Glens Falls, the site of the girls and boys state public high school basketball championships. Only one team from each class was lucky enough to win their final game and bring home the prestigious trophies.

On the boys side, the largest class winner was Newburgh Free Academy. This team has loads of talent as shown by its 62-42 win over previously undefeated and state No. 1 Niagara Falls in the championship game. Niagara Falls had beaten Greece Athena by 10 in the regionals.

In Class A, another team that beat a Section 5 team in the tournament ended up winning it all. Jamesville-DeWitt of Section 3 knocked off Peekskill by two points. J-D advanced to the title game by beating Batavia by eight in the semifinals.

In Class B, the Kings of Bishop Kearney took home the hardware. A 65-48 win over Seton Catholic was the deciding game. Kearney had beaten Broadalbin Perth 46-44 to make the finals.
They were one of two Section 5 teams to win a title. Avon was crowned Class C champs, beating Maple Hill (Section 2) by six points to make history. It was their closest game of the state tournament, as the Braves won by 16 and 20 in their other two state tournament games.

The smallest class winner was South Kortright of Section 4. A 47-43 win over Section 11’s Greenport assured them the D title.

On the girls side, Canandaigua fell to a very good Copiague team in the semifinals of the Class AA tournament in Troy. Canandaigua kept the game close and only lost by nine while Copiague went on to win the championship, beating Bethlehem by 16 points in the title game.

The Newark girls made sure Section 5 got a trophy as they beat Albert Magnus 75-69 to capture the Class A crown. Newark was never really threatened in the tournament, as the Reds beat Floral Park 53-37 in the semis.

Nanuet was the girls winner for Class B when they knocked off Oneonta 39-35.
Nazareth made it a pair for our section as the Lasers bested Hoosic Valley in the C title game. Coleman Catholic from Section 9 won Class D.

All things considered, four state titles from Section 5 is an extremely successful run. It shows the level of talent and coaching that comes from the area and should make everyone associated with high school sports in the area proud.

Now let’s wait and see which baseball, softball and lacrosse teams will emerge from the spring season in a few months with the same kind of hardware.